City Tow Trucks Will Help Drivers on 4 S.I. Highways

By ERIC SCHMITT

Published: February 20, 1988

A city fleet of tow trucks will offer free gasoline, jump starts and tows to motorists on Staten Island highways in a test beginning Monday.

The Transportation Department, which franchises 10 contractors to tow cars from portions of the 250 miles of highways and bridges in the city, decided on the test after the Staten Island contractor's operating license was suspended this week for failing to pay its commissions to the city.

''The public has been improperly serviced on Staten Island, and this is one way to correct the problem,'' a deputy assistant commissioner, Frank Seddio, said.

Motorists have consistently lodged more complaints about overcharging and poor service against the company, Artie's Towing and Auto Body, than any other franchise, according to the head of the licensing division in the Police Department, Deputy Inspector Leonard Kaplan. To an Exit or a Depot

The owner of the company, Artie Santotietro, did not return several phone calls. Artie's has had the franchise since 1974.

If the program works on Staten Island, Transportation Department officials said, they may end the franchises in the other boroughs.

In the pilot program, brown trucks, similar to those that haul parking violators, will tow disabled cars at no charge to the nearest highway exit or a central depot. The owners will then be able to call any mechanic or towing company.

Artie's tows vehicles from the Staten Island Expressway, Willowbrook Parkway, Richmond Parkway and West Shore Expressway. Motorists who need to be towed from streets can choose any company.

According to city records, Artie's reported 2,800 tows and service calls, or eight a day, in 1986, the latest year for which complete figures are available. $790,000 a Year to Run Under the test, the Transportation Department is buying 12 trucks and hiring 21 drivers to patrol 17 1/2 miles of roads. During rush hours, five trucks are to be on patrol, according to a Transportation Department spokesman, Victor Ross.

The program is to cost $790,000 a year to run, with new trucks requiring at least an additonal $550,000, officials said.

The franchise system dates from the mid-60's. The city receives a 2 percent commission from each company. In 1986, Mr. Ross said, that amounted to $134,744.

An average of 161 vehicles are towed or serviced each day on highways and bridges in the city, producing $6.5 million a year in revenue for the companies, according to department figures. City trucks tow 16 cars a day at no charge in rush hours from four East River bridges and some highways. Review of Contract Procedures

Traffic regulations set towing charges at $20 for the first mile and $1.75 for each additional mile. If extra preparation or additional service is needed, companies are allowed to charge $9 more.

The Transportation Department has awarded the contracts without competitive bidding, a procedure that is under review.

Authorized companies in other boroughs sharply criticized the experiment. They said that it was a potential threat to their businesses and that it was inconsistent with recent city budget cuts.

''The city is cutting essential services like firehouses and adding something like this?'' asked Julius Cirillo, secretary for Midtown Enterprises, a towing company that works on the Belt Parkway and Prospect and Gowanus Expressways in Brooklyn. ''It doesn't make sense.''

''If the city can't handle the bridges, how can they handle Staten Island?'' said Lou Dale, a manager of the W.A.B.C. Towing Corporation, which assists city trucks on the East River bridges and tows from the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harlem River Drives, as well as parts of the Brooklyn-Queens and Long Island Expressways.